Stressed out?

CBC Edmonton's two-week series looks at the stress of living in a boom-bust economy, its toll on our daily lives, families, and communities »

Features

Your view
PodcastStressed Out: Health care checkup
The best of the week's radio series (Runs 47:58)
Food cravings
WATCHH1N1 town hall
Experts Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta's chief medical health officer, answer all your H1N1 questions (49:11)
Down and out
In depthDown and out in Alberta
The boom-bust cycle of the past five years has resulted in high levels of stress for many Albertans
Personal stress
Stress 101Coping with stress
What can you do? Three approaches to deal with stress
Food cravings
Stress 101Family
With stress on the homefront — and stress at work — what’s a person to do?
Alberta checkup
pollA health care checkup
Assessing the state of health care

Stress Facts

  • Job stress
    Stress as a reason for employee absenteeism has risen 316 per cent since 1995, according to Statistics Canada.
  • Dual-earning families more stressed
    Work-life balance is harder with the rise of dual-earning families, according to Statistics Canada. About one in four men in full-time, dual-earner families with young children at home, and more than one in three women, reported feeling severely time stressed.
  • Employee absenteeism
    Statistics Canada calculates the cost of stress-related employee absenteeism at $12 billion annually.
  • Life stress
    21 per cent of all Albertans aged 15 or over report most days in their life are quite a bit or extremely stressful, according to Statistics Canada.
  • Stress and asthma
    Children whose parents described themselves as stressed and anxious were 50% more likely to develop asthma than kids with non-stressed parents - at least when these youngsters were also exposed to pollution in a high-traffic, urban setting, according to scientists at the University of Southern California.
  • Laughter is best medicine
    Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline). Laughter, even if faked, also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins. Best of all, laughter boosts your immune system.
  • Stress not all bad
    Short-term stress is a natural reaction to demanding or unexpected situations, motivating us to act. Good stress is stimulating, and makes us feel in control. Stress causes a faster heartbeat, raises blood pressure, and increases blood glucose which sharpens our thinking.